Playstation 4 Pro: Everything You Need to Know

Sony’s Playstation Meeting took place last night in New York, giving everyone a glimpse of what’s in store for gamers and what the immediate future will hold for Sony, and a lot came out of the showcase. Not only were two new Playstation consoles announced, but we got to see some new gameplay videos and tech demos (running on the new PS4 Pro console) from some of the biggest upcoming games.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Playstation 4 Pro

The console will complement the standard PS4, rather than replace it. The name was picked to show that it is part of the current version of the console, but aimed at the higher-end gamers. It is not an entirely new architecture and thus not a new generation of PlayStation hardware.

Among the hardware upgrades in the PS4 Pro are a 1TB hard drive, doubled GPU power, and technology adapted from AMD Polaris graphical architecture. These allow the PS4 Pro to reach resolutions “not thought possible on consoles” in 2016. The CPU clockspeed has also been boosted. The Pro will not have a 4K Blu-ray drive.

Playstation 4 Slim

In an unsurprising move, Sony also officially unveiled the PlayStation 4 Slim, which, as with previous slim models, is a smaller, more energy efficient system with a 500 GB hard drive that will become the standard PS4 going forward. It will be in “most markets” on September 15 for $299 (around R4,180)

Redesigned DualShock 4

A new PS4 controller was also showcased. This is not the next iteration of the DualShock, but rather an enhanced version of the DualShock 4. The main additions are a front-facing lightbar (allowing light to come through at the top of the touchpad) and USB communication support (in addition to Bluetooth).

HDR coming to all PS4s

One of the focal points of the PlayStation Meeting event was HDR, or high dynamic range technology. While it was shown off primarily with regard to games running on the newly revealed PS4 Pro, it’s actually something that all PS4s will soon be capable of.

Sony revealed it plans to release a firmware update next week that introduces HDR support on all existing PS4s–even the standard PS4 model. No further details were shared regarding exactly how this will work or if there’s some caveat that applies to HDR support on standard PS4s.

And of course, the games

So what do the games look like running on the Playstation 4 Pro? From what we’ve seen, not a huge difference (and that’s not what they promised, anyway), but there is definitely a higher fidelity thanks to the 4K and HDR capabilities. Check out the sizzle real below giving some new footage of Insomniac’s Spider-Man, along with some other titles:

We were also treated to some brand-new gameplay from Mass Effect: Andromeda, the next instalment in the popular Mass Effect series from EA and Bioware. The demo was running on the Playstation 4 Pro in 4K, so boost up the quality if you want to get a glimpse of what it’ll be like in person:

There was a new gameplay demo of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and it’s safe to say that the next instalment in the CoD franchise will be the prettiest yet. Running on the Playstation 4 Pro, the game looks spectacular:

Guerilla Games’ mysterious open-world survival game, Horizon: Zero Dawn, is also one of the vehicles to help drive the new HDR 4K technology, and the game showcased it in stellar form with a brilliant 3-minute gameplay demo you can watch below:

There was also some impressive gameplay shown from Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20th Anniversary Edition, which is hitting PS4 on 11 October. The gameplay demo is from the title running on a PS4 Pro in 4K resolution, showing some finer details that may not have been as clear as before:

And here’s the gameplay demo showcase from Playstation lead system architect Mark Cerny, with Cerny discussing some of the enhancements PS4 Pro brings to games:

And here’s Cerny further discussing the development and future of gaming with PS4 Pro:

What are your thoughts on Playstation’s big announcements? Let us know by tweeting @MenStuffZA and commenting below.